Finding His Voice
by Ally1313
Summary: -AU- After Tenten's brother left, things were going to be lonely. But then her family took in a foster child by the name of Hyuuga Neji. He was hurt, broken, and hadn't spoken a word in over two years. Tenten now has a goal- to help him find his voice.
1. Chapter One

I've been reading a lot of AU stories lately about Neji and Tenten, and I want to switch things up. It's always Tenten coming from the abusive family to live with the Hyuuga, but why not switch it up a bit?

This originally was a request from a friend for her birthday to write an AU fic where Neji goes to live with Tenten or vice-versa, and this is what came out of my mind.

It's so weird, I haven't been writing my usual crack lately…

I feel kinda bad because I already have like four stories going right now, though Wrinkly Old Senseis is going to be discontinued. I'll get around the updating the others eventually.

I'm real sad though cause my one specifically about Neji isn't getting a good review response… It has twelve faves at the current second, but two reviews! You can read it if you want, but be warned, it has some pretty heavy and mature themes. (Child abuse, cutting, later in the story there will be a suicide attempt, and mild drug and alcohol use.)

**Edit: **Thanks to everyone who went and reviewed Beneath The Surface! (The name of the story.) But, I deleted it, even though I got 34 reviews for two chapters. Why? Because this story and that one were WAY to similar. There were some subtle differences, but for the most part, it was very alike. I decided to instead merge the two stories, in some bizzare way. A lot of events and stuff I planned to happen in that story will take place in this one. Toodles!

Anywho, rambling over, here goes the story!

Full Summery: After Tenten's brother went to college, things were very lonely around the house. But then her family took in a foster child by the name of Hyuuga Neji. He was hurt, broken, and hadn't spoken a word in over two years. Tenten now has a goal- help him find his voice before it's too late.

Disclaimer: I own the idea for this story and the OCs, but Tenten and Neji and Lee and Gai…and so on and so forth belong to Mashahi Kishimito.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Do you really have to go?" Fourteen year old Tenten whined.

"Yes." Replied her nineteen year old brother, Keizo. "Don't you want me to get an education so I can make something out of myself and buy you nice things?" He teased.

Tenten pouted. "This isn't fair! It's going to be so lonely without you!"

"No, not really. Mom and Dad are planning something…" He said mischievously.

"And what's that?" Tenten asked, excited.

"Oh, you'll see." He said with the tone of a person that knew something that the other person didn't.

"Come on!" Tenten whined, stomping her foot. "I want to know!"

"It's a surprise." He said, winking.

Tenten crossed her arms and looked away. "No fair."

Keizo had to laugh at this. Tenten was just like a little kid sometimes. "I can give you a little hint…" He whispered.

Tenten's head immediately snapped back to him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"My room isn't going to be my room anymore…" He whispered.

This left Tenten incredibly confused.

"Are mom and dad turning it into a game room?" She guessed.

He chuckled. "You'll see."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, this is really it?" Tenten asked, standing next to Keizo in the airport, their mother and father standing only a foot away.

"Stop sounding so dramatic, I'll be back for Christmas." He said, sighing.

"Yeah, in four months!" Tenten whined back.

"Geez…You're so whiney! The Tenten I know never whines. She's a hopeless optimistic." He said, smiling.

He then felt Tenten throw her arms around him. "I'm going to miss you!" She wailed.

"Get off Tenten, no hugging in public!" He whispered, looking around to make sure no one had seen that display of affection by his sister.

Tenten stood back and sniffled. "It's just that I'm going to miss you."

"I told you, there's going to be a surprise!" He said, exasperated.

"Keizo, don't tell her!" Tenten's mom piped in finally.

"Right, sorry." He said, looking down.

Tenten sighed. Why would no one tell her anything?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji looked around the office. This was nothing new. In fact, this was the third time. It doesn't seem like that many, but to a fourteen year old boy, it was a lot.

The man looked up from the papers.

"So your name is Hyuuga Neji?" He asked.

Neji nodded his head.

"And you're fourteen, right?"

Neji nodded again.

"And in the past you have lived with your father, your mother, and your uncle? Legally?" He asked.

Another nod.

He looked at Neji for a few seconds, then looked back at the sheet of paper.

"And so now we're looking for a foster home for you?" He asked.

"Well, obviously, that's why I'm here right?" Neji replied.

But not really. He simply nodded.

"Do you ever talk?" He asked, sounding exasperated.

Neji looked at his feet, refusing to make eye contact.

The man shook his head.

'This one's going to be hard…' He thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So what's the big surprise?" Tenten asked, bouncing up and down in the backseat.

Her mother gave a quick glance to her father, who gave her a quick nod of approval before turning his attention back to the road.

"Well, we're going to take in a foster child!" Tenten's mother exclaimed, obviously excited.

"…What?" Tenten asked, in shock.

"We're going to take in a child who really needs a loving and neutering home." She said, smiling.

Tenten was in shock. They were going to let a stranger come and live in their house?

"But…why?" Tenten asked.

Her mother's smile faltered. "Aren't you happy?"

Tenten shook her head.

"Why not?" Her mom asked.

"We can't just let some kid we don't know come in and take Keizo's place!" Tenten wailed.

Tenten's mother glared at her. "Whoever said we were trying to get someone to take his place?" She asked in a cold voice.

"Well, they're obviously going to have his room, and they're coming right after he left so…" Tenten said. Tenten's mom sighed. "They're not going to be replacing him."

"It was Keizo's idea anyway." Her father added.

Tenten sighed and sunk back into the seat.

She obviously lost.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji sat staring at the edge of the pond.

He was currently at the Konaha Child Shelter.

It was where foster kids stayed until they either got adopted or taken into a foster family. This was his first time really staying here, the other two times they had had a person in mind to whom they would send him.

He really didn't like it.

The other kids were always trying to get them to do stuff with him, or trying to get him to talk.

He wouldn't talk. He hadn't talked in over two years and he didn't plan to start now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenten sighed as she looked at her ceiling.

She couldn't believe it. Why would her parents want to take in a foster kid? She didn't even really understand the whole deal.

They had explained to her that the kid they would take in would probably have been abused, neglected, or both. She didn't believe such a thing existed.

Her mother and father said that not all of them were as lucky as she was and came from a nice, loving family.

She rolled over onto her side.

Maybe some good would come out of this. She would have someone to talk to! And play games with and such. It would be like a permanent sleepover!

Tenten smiled as she clicked off the light and went to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenten yawned as she stepped into the kitchen. She hated Mondays…

"Well good morning sleeping beauty." Her father said, smiling at her above the newspaper.

She smiled back as she took her seat.

"Good morning to you too." She replied.

"Have you thought anymore about the whole foster child affair?" Tenten's mother asked nervously.

"Yeah, and I changed my mind. It might be fun!" She replied, smiling.

Her mother let out a breath. "Good because when you come home from school, you'll have a new sibling."

Tenten couldn't help but feel a little weird. Already?

"Pick out a good one." She said, smiling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji stared at the pond again. He had wanted to sit out there all night but the social workers said that he couldn't do that.

But that didn't matter. All that mattered was he got to sit there now.

He reached out a small foot and started tracing patterns in the water.

He wondered what was going to happen to him…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you want a fourteen or fifteen year old?" The social worker said, looking at Tenten's mother and father.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Kouki, we really only have one fourteen year old here right now." She replied after looking at the roster of children.

"That's wonderful! What's their name?" They asked, delighted.

"Well, his name is Hyuuga Neji, and he's fourteen. He was born in July." She replied, though she looked worried.

"Is something the matter with him?" Tenten's mother asked, her bright smile slowly disappearing.

"Well, he has…speech issues." She said, seemingly choosing her words carefully.

"Well, what's a matter with his speech?" Tenten's father asked, worried. If he was one of those people that cursed a lot or spoke in a different language, then maybe it would be better to look for someone else…

"Well…you'll see." She said, sighing as she stood up. "Follow me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji's head raised about an inch as he heard footsteps and voices.

"He's over here." He heard someone say.

He kept looking into the pond, still twirling his foot. If he didn't make any sudden movements or sounds, maybe they would overlook him.

"And this is Neji." She heard a voice say.

Tenten's mother looked down at him with a smile.

"Well, hello there. We're Mr. and Mrs. Kouki. How are you?" She asked nicely, holding out her hand.

Neji flinched and scooted as far away from her hand as possible without falling into the pool.

Tenten's mother and father looked at eachother confused. Why did he do that?

The social worker, sensing their confusion, gently whispered to them, "He thought you were about to hit him."

"Ohhh…" Tenten's mother replied, and lowered her hand.

"So, how are you?" She asked again.

Neji gave her a blank, dead look, never responding.

"You know, it's good manners to reply to a question." Tenten's father said, in a gentle yet firm voice.

Neji still only gave them that dead, blank look.

The social worker looked at the three of them, then sighed.

"You see, Neji doesn't talk. According to his record, he hasn't talked in over two years."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenten's mother and father sat outside the office door, talking.

"We can't take him, he doesn't talk. Tenten wouldn't like that." Tenten's father protested.

"But that means that he really needs us! Maybe he'll start talking now once he's in a good home!" Tenten's mother replied.

"We can't take that chance! What if he stays silent forever?" Tenten's father argued.

"Then he stays silent! I'm sure that there are other ways to communicate with a person. I know a bit of sign language."

Tenten's father sighed.

He was fighting a losing battle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We'll take him." Tenten's mother said, smiling.

The social worker looked back and forth at them, then said, "You are aware of that fact that he is silent. One hundred percent completely silent. He doesn't even talk in his sleep."

The two nodded.

She sighed. "Well, let's get started. There's a lot of paperwork."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So your family's going to take in a foster child?" Tenten's friend Lee asked in awe.

Tenten nodded, grinning. "It's going to be like a permanent sleepover!" Tenten replied.

"Sounds like fun." Her other friend, Sakura said smiling.

"I hope he's hot so when we go over to your house we get to stare at them." Ino said, giggling like mad.

"I don't even know that they are getting a guy!" Tenten wailed.

"Well, I hope they do." Ino said.

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Whoever they are is going to be my sibling."

Ino was about to open her mouth to respond when Lee asked in a loud voice, "So, Hinata, what do you think about all this?"

Tenten smiled. That was the good thing about having a male as part of their close group, he always managed to keep her sane when surrounded by boy-obsessed friends.

Hinata just stared at her hands, where her fingers were poking together, something she did when she was nervous.

"Why are you nervous?" Sakura asked.

"It's just all this talk about foster kids is making me think about my cousin, Neji." Hinata replied in a small voice.

"Why is that?" Tenten asked.

"Well, he just got taken into foster care a few days ago." She said, even quieter then before.

"Why?" Ino asked.

"Well, he lived with us- my mom, dad, and Hanabi- but then-"

_RING_

"There goes the bell, we better get back to class." Lee said, picking up his books.

"Yeah, so see you guys after school." Ino said, starting to walk towards the school now that lunch break was over.

"Not me." Tenten said, a big grin on her face. "I'm going home right away to meet my new sibling."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm home!" Tenten called out as she walked into her house.

"Hello Tenten." Her mother smiled as she walked out of the dining room towards her. "How was school?"

"The same as every other day. Did you get the new kid?" She asked, looking over her mother's shoulder as though expecting to see the new kid there.

"Yes, but, Tenten, first we have to talk." Her mother responded, blocking Tenten's way to go and run into the kitchen.

"Okay, shoot." Tenten replied, bouncing on the balls of her heels.

"Well, you see…he's mute." Her mother said, wringing her hands. Sometimes it was better just to say it.

Tenten stopped bouncing, then looked at her confused.

"What?"

Tenten's mother sighed, then replied, "He doesn't talk."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wow…this isn't coming out anything like I thought it would. This is really just a prologue chapter. The real story will start in the next one.

I'm always open to suggestions!

Anywho, review!


	2. Chapter Two

Okay, here's chapter two. Right now I really don't know what to do about revealing Neji's past. I have a poll open right now on my profile so for right now there's not going to be anything about his past until people let me know what they want. But before you vote for Neji should just tell her, remember that the whole purpose of this story is Neji not being able to talk until he comes to terms with things that have happened to him in the past. It really defeats the purpose. I just put it up because…I don't know.

Right now I like the snooping and flashbacks one. It's like you'll know a little about Neji from the snooping, but then you'll understand deeper because of the flashbacks.

Oh, and of course, they're all fourteen here.

Anyway, people, don't worry, Neji isn't going to be a baby or anything, he's going to be his normal bad-ass self.

And even though I hate Sakura, she's going to be a big part of this story. I need her to fill that spot in Tenten's group and I don't want to make any more OCs then I need to.

Oh, and I'm to defy the ordinary with this story. Like Ino is never going to have a boyfriend or be kissed or anything like that, Gai is not going to be the gym teacher, the Hyuuga aren't rich and the owner of some large company, and all that kind of stuff. It gets to be to a point where anyone can use those ideas, and no one thinks up anything original. I'm going to follow the basic guidelines of Naruto, like Neji's father is going to be "murdered" by Hiashi, but not because of some business reason.

Now, thank you to all who actually read my rambling. XP Put "the official nejiten cheese" in your review, and the next chapter will be dedicated to you. :3

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Gai would moonwalk. _Everywhere._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hinata's cousin is living with you?" Ino asked in awe.

"Are you sure?" Lee asked, eyes wide.

"Yes, I'm sure! He has her eyes and looks like her and his name is Neji! That is his name right?" Tenten replied, last part directed at Hinata.

Hinata nodded nervously.

"Why didn't you tell us he didn't talk?" Tenten asked, in a slightly winey voice.

"Neji? Not talk?" Hinata said incredibly.

Tenten nodded. "My mom told me that the lady at the shelter said he hasn't talked in two years."

Hinata seemed to think for a second. "Well, that would mean that he stopped talking a little after…" But then she stopped herself, as if afraid she was going to say something she would regret.

"What happened?" Tenten asked, eager to find out anything about the boy who now lived in the room two doors down from her.

"Well…um…I really shouldn't tell you…I really don't know much about it…" Hinata said, blushing and poking her fingers together.

"Okay, fine. What was he like before whatever happened that you won't tell me about?" Tenten said, sighing.

"Well…he definitely wasn't silent…he fought a lot with Father, they really didn't get along…I really didn't get along with him…He used to get into a lot of trouble at school…He's real smart but he rarely ever went to school…he preferred to just cut class or just not go altogether…he used to stay out until three in the morning…I don't know what he was doing…He spent a lot of time with Uchiha Sasuke-" Hinata said this while looking up at the sky, as though thinking about what would be safe to say and what wasn't until Sakura and Ino cut her off.

"He knows Sasuke!" Ino screeched.

"Can he hook us up?" Sakura also screeched.

"Shut up you two, I'm trying to listen!" Tenten yelled, glaring at them. "You were saying Hinata?"

"Well…basically he's just a trouble maker…He can be really sweet though. He just doesn't like to get close to people because he's been hurt too many times by-" Hinata seemed to gain confidence as she talked, but then suddenly stoped as though she realized she said too much.

"By who?" Lee asked before Tenten could.

"A lot of people…but…I really don't think I should be telling you this…" Hinata said, tapping her fingers together.

"Come on Hinata! It can't be that bad!" Tenten wailed.

Hinata shook her head in a way that told all of them that there was going to be no more input from her.

Tenten sighed as she looked both towards the other members of her tight group.

"So what do you guys think?"

Lee shrugged. "I really don't know him so I don't know what to think."

Sakura sighed dreamily. "He knows Sasuke…I bet he could hook us up…"

"No way!" Ino said.

Tenten sighed. Her two friends were obsessed with Sasuke. She honestly didn't see what was so great about the guy. Then again, she really didn't see him a lot, he often skipped school.

"But back to business, we have to hook you and Neji up first." Ino said, looking at Tenten.

"What!" She exclaimed, but not as a question.

"You heard me! We need to hook you guys up! It's about time you got a boyfriend!" Ino said.

"It's about time I got a boyfriend? Have any of you ever had a boyfriend?" Tenten asked, the three other girls looking down.

"I do!" Lee said happily.

Tenten smiled. Lee had been picked on and teased by the other kids a lot for his sexual orientation when he was younger, and it had caused him to be very sad. Tenten and the others girls of course didn't mind, but nearly everyone else did. Boys didn't want to share a locker room with him, no one wanted to sit with him at lunch, and he had no real friends up until he was thirteen and met Tenten who gladly excepted him. She found him to be a real sweetheart. People just never bothered to look at what was inside Lee, other than organs of course.

On the other hand, Lee had found himself spending a lot of time in the guidance office. Their guidance counselor was, for lack of better word, unique. At first, he seemed over the top, exuberant, and unhealthy. With his obsession with green, he wore it every day, his massive eyebrows, and his exuberant personality he was a bit much for many of the students. But Tenten, like many others, had discovered that Gai-sensei, that was his name, was very good at his job. He could make you feel great about yourself, and genuinely seemed to care. He even made house visits if it was needed.

But anyway, there was a new student one day by the name of Gaara. No one really liked him because he was very creepy, but Lee has made it his goal to become great friends with him. He always jumped at the possibility to make more friends, and usually started to succeed, but then someone would blab about the fact that he was gay and they would leave him.

However, Gaara didn't and the two of them ended up being great friends, and soon Gaara admitted that _he _was gay, and after a little bit, they started dating.

Lee was happier than he had ever been, and Tenten in turn was happy for him.

"Great, the only boy in out group has a boyfriend, and none of us do." Ino said, rolling her eyes.

Lee glared at her. "Don't ruin it for me." Lee said with a fake sob.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Ino cooed at him, and gave him a hug.

Tenten laughed. Lee really was irresistible…

"But back to business. You need to hook up with him! He could be like your live-in boyfriend!" Ino said, grinning at her.

Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. It's almost my curfew anyway."

"Okay, bye! But remember what I said!" Ino called as she waved.

Tenten stuck out her tongue as she walked out the front door to Ino's house.

"Father's not going to like this…" Hinata said with a sigh.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Hinata walked through the front door to her house and into her kitchen, her father was on the phone, muttering the occasional 'yes' 'uh-huh' and 'I see.'

Hinata sat down at the table and pulled out her homework. Her father had very high expectations of her and wanted her to get into a school like Harvard.

Finally, Hiashi hung up the phone and turned to Hinata.

"I just got a very interesting call." He said.

Hinata gulped. This wasn't going to end well.

"They found Neji. It's been what, two years about?" He said, giving her a strange look.

Hinata gulped then nodded her head.

"But of course I told you that the other day. What's really interesting is that someone took him in today." He said in a tone that clearly told her that he knew something important, and that so did she, and that he wanted her just to outright say it.

"Really?" Hinata asked, deciding just to act naïve.

"Do you know who?" He asked, leaning towards her.

"No." She squeaked.

"Guess."

"…Us?"

Hiashi promptly did something Hinata never thought she would see him do- smack his head on the table then look up at her. "No. Your friend Kouki Tenten's family did."

Hinata looked down. "I know…"

"Now, let's get one thing clear." Hiashi said, his voice back to it's normal stern self. "You are not to, under any circumstance, interact with him. He's a bad kid, and he'll drag you down. The Kouki family has no clue what they've done."

Hinata wanted to tell her father that Neji was not a bad kid, and that he wasn't going to drag anyone down, but instead replied with the usual, "Yes Father."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gai smiled and walked up the driveway. He knew one of the members who lived there, a girl by the name of Tenten. He really did like her, she was sweet, nice, and helped out many people in need, but right now, she wasn't his target.

He was here to talk to their new kid, and try to get him ready to start school. He had done a little snooping and had discovered that Neji was listed as a student at Konaha Middle School, but not for Konaha High. After doing a bit more research, he found it was because Neji had mysteriously stopped going to school about half way through seventh grade. This intrigued him greatly, seeing as Neji was now part of ninth grade.

But that really didn't matter. Right now he just needed to do some tests, seeing his level of intelligence, and then work out weather Neji would go into ninth grade, or just go back to seventh.

He knocked on the door and heard someone shout "Coming!"

He door then opened to reveal Tenten's face.

"Hi Tenten!" Gai said, smiling. He never bothered with the whole calling his students Ms. or Mr., and most certainly did not use words like 'Hello' and 'Greetings' like other teachers.

"Hey Gai-sensei!" She said, grinning at him. "What's up?"

"I'm here to see Neji." He replied, looking over her shoulder as though he expected him to be standing right there. It was a habit that he himself had past onto Tenten.

"Oh, he's in here! We were playing Uno." Tenten said, leading him into the living room.

"I love Uno…" Gai muttered, a big smile on his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji looked at the doorway, checking to make sure that Tenten wasn't coming.

After a few seconds, Neji seemed satisfied and started to look at her cards when he heard, "And this is Neji!"

Neji quickly dropped the cards and looked towards the doorway where Tenten and some strange, and he meant _strange, _man stood. He was wearing green jeans, green sweatshirt, green sneakers, was carrying a green briefcase, had a ridiculous bowl cut, and his eyebrows were practically alive.

"Were you trying to look at my cards?" Tenten asked, glaring at him.

Neji simply cocked his head to the side and gave her the most innocent look he could, which was actually very good. He had lots of practice in the whole pretending to be innocent department.

Tenten sighed. "He's all yours. Have fun and play nicely. See you later!" She said, waving as she left before ducking around the doorway to say, "Oh, and good luck."

Gai wondered what she meant as he sat down across from Neji and smiled. "Hi, I'm Miato Gai, but you could just call me Gai-sensei. I'm the guidance counselor at Konaha High."

Neji inwardly groaned. He **hated** guidance counselors…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Keizo chucked into the phone. "So he doesn't talk?"

"No, but he's still pretty cool." Tenten's voice came from the other end. "I beat him in Uno twelve times."

"Let me guess, it was because he wasn't saying Uno."

"Shut up!" Tenten wailed.

Keizo laughed. "Sounds interesting. Just give it some time, I'm sure he'll talk."

"I know that! He seems pretty cool so far."

"So what are you naming the kids?"

"KEIZO!" Tenten yelled, causing Keizo to hold the receiver a foot away from him. "Geez, I was just kidding."

"I know…"

"What's a matter?"

"Well, Ino was also talking about us getting together."

"Oh, that. Don't worry, Ino try's to hook everyone up. Remember Temari and-"

"Kankuro? Before she found out they were siblings? That was pretty funny!" Tenten said, laughing at the memory. She never let Ino forget that…

"I can't wait to meet him, now I've got to go, it's time for dinner."

"Okay, bye."

"Talk to you later!" Keizo said, hanging up the phone.

Really, Kankuro and Temari…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gai looked at the results curiously. Even though he hadn't been to school in years, he had easily passed every single test.

There was one little problem though.

"So you really don't talk, do you?" Gai asked, lowering the papers to look at him.

Neji nodded his head.

Gai thought for a moment, then sighed and looked at the papers again.

"I bet we could work around that, it's no reason that you shouldn't be able to get a proper education…" He muttered.

"We could always just give you a mini whiteboard or something and write on there and show it to the teachers to ask questions and stuff. And I'm sure Tenten while help you make friends, even if you can't talk. Yeah, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to attend school normally." He said, thinking about what they could do. He wouldn't want Neji to have to go to an alternative school or something simply because he didn't talk. That would really just be a last resort.

Neji thought about for a second, then shrugged his shoulders and slouched down a little bit. He had long ago learned that you couldn't control many things in life. His father used to call it destiny.

His father.

Neji felt his eyes go down and his body slacken.

He heard the words of his uncle ringing in his ears, "What kind of baby cries over their dead daddy eight years later? Pathetic…"

Well, that was easy for him to say, it was his uncle's fault he was dead in the first place…

"Neji, are you all right?" Gai said in a concerned voice.

Neji's head jerked up and he looked at Gai. He nodded his head, and looked down again.

Gai gave him a sad look. "Well, remember, you can always talk to me." He ended with a big smile.

Neji gave him an odd look then went back to looking down.

That's why he hated guidance counselors.

They always tried to find out "what was wrong."

They said they would understand.

They wouldn't.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So he should be able to go to school normally?" Tenten's mom asked.

Gai nodded with a smile on his face. "I don't see why not."

Tenten's mom gave her a relived sigh.

"We were getting worried." Tenten's father said, smiling widely.

"So when will he be able to start?" Tenten's mom asked.

"Probably next week if Neji feels up to it, which he urm…not exactly said…but when I asked if he was ready he nodded his head." Gai said, still smiling.

Tenten's mother and father smiled. This wasn't as hard as they thought it would be…

"But you'll have to bring him in for orientation some time." Gai said. "And there will be paperwork."

Tenten's mother and father sighed.

Of course.

There was always a lot of paperwork.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenten sighed as she stared at her ceiling, unable to sleep.

She had tried everything- counting sheep, picturing a peaceful landscape, playing a movie in her head, and she still couldn't sleep.

She sighed again and stepped out of bed.

She wondered if Neji was awake.

She tiptoed down the hall and gently opened his door.

"Neji…?" She called.

But then of course, she really wasn't expecting a reply.

She gently walked over to the bed and poked the lump of blankets.

'Neji sure is soft…' She thought to herself. And he was going to suffocate under all those blankets anyway.

She pulled back the blankets to at least reveal his head, and saw nothing.

She gasped as she remembered what Hinata has said, "He used to stay out until three in the morning…I don't know what he was doing…"

What if he was hurt or something?

She ran to the front door, threw on her shoes, and, ignoring the fact she was still in her pajamas, snuck out the door.

"Neji…Come here boy…I'll give you a cookie…" God, she felt like she was calling a dog.

She walked around to the back of the house and saw Neji sitting by their pool.

"Oh my god, you scared me…" She said, sitting next to him.

Neji shrugged and went back to looking at the moon.

Tenten looked at his eyes for a second, then compared them to the moon.

"You know, you're eyes are very pretty…" She mumbled.

Neji just gave her a look that clearly said, 'Call me pretty again. I dare you.'

Tenten sighed and looked away. "Fine, fine, no pretty for Neji. Though you are. Why do you keep your hair so long?" She asked, tugging on his long, black hair.

Neji swatted her hand away, glared at her, then gave her a shrug.

"Some sort of complicated tradition or something?" Tenten guessed. "Hinata's father's hair is long."

Neji tensed when he heard that.

"So talking about Hiashi I think it is, is a no-no?" She asked.

Neji nodded, eyes closed, as though remembering something unpleasant.

Tenten shook her head. "What happened to you to make you like this?" She asked, her voice cracking with concern.

Neji looked sadly down at his feet.

Tenten sighed. "Oh well. I'll learn to live with you."

Tenten then felt a sharp poke to her side and jerked her head to look at Neji.

"Hey!"

Neji gave her a smirk, then looked back up. Tenten sighed and smiled, then braved resting her head on his shoulder. Neji tensed for a second, then relaxed and let his head rest on top of hers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that's it for right now. Don't forget to vote!

Oh, and review.

It'll make the next chapter come faster.

This chapter was hard because I didn't know how to start it. It was originally supposed to start with a flashback, but I didn't like it, so then I made it when they first meet, didn't work, tried it Tenten talking to Hinata on the phone, didn't work, NOTHING WORKED! –sob-

But no matter, this terrible chapter is out. It's harder than I thought to write a story like this. I'm trying to break almost all clichés, so I have nothing to read and get a spark of inspiration!

It's moving slowly right now, but it's because I want to make it decent and something people will actually want to read.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter three! Yay! I'm surprised this story is getting such a good response. Like, within the first 12 hours of it being out it got like 10 reviews for the second chapter. I mean, is it really that good?

The reason why it's getting so fluffy so fast is because my friend is inpatient. She was mad because I didn't make them go off and make mad, hot lovey love in the first chapter.

It feels really weird writing this rebel Neji kinda thing because everyone makes him out to be the perfect straight A student who wears a suit to school every day and always follows rules and blah blah blah…. I just don't see Neji with that kind of personality. Sorry. XP

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll get pretty far in the story now, it's spring break. Yay!

Anywho, my friend said it's up to me how long it will be. Which I don't know at this second. I personally want to make like a real 30 chapter story, but would you guys actually read it if it was that long? I would if it was really a good story, but I don't think this one is that good. It's going to get better, but I don't know if it will be enough. So there's going to be a poll on my profile, VOTE!

I finally figured out a way that maybe Neji can tell Tenten what happened to him. It's going to start next chapter.

Ultimately, the results are in from the poll. There was a lot of hinting and snooping and stuff in the past chapter, and people seemed to like it, so add some flashbacks, and we've got ourselves Neji's past. YAY!

Thanks for reading my rambling! This chapter's word is mashed potatoes!

Oh and italics _flashback_

This chapter is dedicated to: Toko-Nozomi for putting in the NejiTen cheese!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. (And I'm running out of ideas for funny disclaimers…I used them all in my Team Gai story!)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji heard the loud buzz of the alarm clock and inwardly groaned. He reached out his hand and promptly back handed it off the table and let a small smile grace his lips as he sunk back down into the soft pillows to return to sleep.

Too bad Tenten wouldn't let him.

"Hey Neji!" He heard her high pitched voice yell as she ran in and started jumping on his bed.

"Mom said that you have to go to school today for orientation! It's going to be fun! You'll get to meet everybody, and I'm sure you'll like them!" She yelled, panting from all the jumping.

Neji flinched at the word school. He hated it with a burning passion. He hated it more than he hated broccoli, and that is a hell of a lota hate right there.

He felt Tenten stop jumping, run over to the window, and throw off the curtains.

"Now come on! You have to get ready!" She yelled, running out of the room, not even bothering to shut the door behind her.

Neji just pulled the blankets up over his head and went back to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiashi heard the door squeak as he opened it. People rarely ever went into the attic. It was dark, cold, damp, and musty.

But it couldn't always be avoided.

Up here was where they always kept the stuff that they didn't have a place for or even a reason to keep it but did anyway.

Like Neji's stuff.

Hiashi moved boxes aside and moved big bags of stuff, looking for that trash bag labeled "Neji's crap." He had always wondered why they had kept it, and he finally figured it was because there was that tiny, absolutely minuscule chance that they would find Neji and send him back to live with them.

He was very happy that wasn't the case.

He was simply looking for it because the people who ran the foster care system wanted him to bring any of his stuff that he might have over to his new home so the Kouki family wouldn't have to buy him all new clothes and such.

"Aha…" He muttered as he picked up the bag.

How it brought back memories…

_Hiashi stood waiting at the airport for his nephew's plane to land._

_Neji's mother was recently arrested for…many things._

_And Hiashi, being the wonderful person he was, agreed to let Neji live with him until she was out of jail. Of course then Neji would have to go to court and decide who he would rather live with- his uncle and his family or go back to his mother. _

_He certainly hoped that Neji would choose to go back to his mother. Hiashi wasn't particularly fond of the boy, he never really was, and didn't even _want _to imagine what he would be like after what his mother put him through. Really, the only reason he had agreed to take him in was because he felt he owed it to Hizashi, his deceased twin brother. Neji had been his only son and he had loved him very much. _

_Neji had always blamed Hiashi for his father's death, but of course, accidents happen. And that's what it had been, an accident._

"_Flight 23 has just landed in terminal five."_

_Hiashi sighed and got up from the hard, plastic chair. _

_As he neared the terminal, he looked for the child. He wondered if he would be able to recognize him. The last time he saw Neji, he was four. And now he was ten. Quite an age difference._

_But then he spotted him. He would always remember that long black hair, even if the kid was looking down. _

_He took a couple steps towards him, wondering why he was carrying a trash bag slung over his shoulder, but then realized that's where Neji was keeping his stuff._

_He wondered what he would say to him. It had been quite a shock. Neji was so…small. _

_He looked unnaturally pale, probably a result of malnutrition and lack of sunlight, like he was locked in a closet half his life or something. Though he was probably average height for his age, it really was hard to tell, considering the clothes he wore were at least four times to big. And especially in this summer weather. While everyone around him was wearing bright clothing, in shorts and summer shirts with palm trees, he was wearing a black sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up many times, and the hem was well past his hips, about half way down his thighs. The jeans that he wore were a dark denim wash and the bottoms were rolled up more times then he could count. It looked like he was swimming in a humongous mass of clothes. His long black hair only added to the effect._

_Really, compared to all the happy, tall people beside him, he was a small, dark, depressed little thing. _

_Most of all, he looked lost, like an abused, wandering little puppy, looking for an owner to take him in and care for him._

_Hiashi shook his head, bringing him back to his senses. Who cared what he looked like? _

"_Neji!" He called out. _

_Neji's head shot up and gave him a confused look, before his eyes widened, then squinted into a glare. _

'_Nice to see you too…' He thought._

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

_Hiashi felt very uncomfortable in the car with Neji. He was sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window, or more like glaring out the window. He really was an angry child…_

_They hadn't said a single word to each other since Hiashi called out to Neji._

_He shifted uncomfortable in the seat._

"_So…" He said. To be honest, he was slightly afraid that Neji would suddenly reach into his pocket, pull out a knife and stab him._

_To be even more honest, he was surprised that Neji was even trusting him to drive. _

_Neji turned and glared at him. "So what?"_

"_Tell me about yourself." _

_Neji glared some more. "You don't really care. You're just afraid that I'm insane and will kill you."_

_Hiashi gulped. "You're not, are you?"_

_Neji gave a sadistic chuckle. "Well, you must be stupid. I wouldn't be able to get a knife or anything like that through the metal detectors. And they searched all my stuff. And even if I did smuggle one in, do you honestly think I would tell you?"_

_Hiashi growled and felt anger rising in him. _

"_Okay, you insolent little thing, I think you need to learn some respect. You are not, I repeat, not allowed to call me stupid."_

"_But you are stupid. It's the truth." Neji replied, looking back out the window._

_Hiashi's knuckles clenched harder onto the steering wheel so his knuckles turned white._

_Of course, Neji's appearance wasn't because he was little or depressed, it was because he was a juvenile delinquent, disrespectful. He wouldn't be surprised if Neji was a shoplifter or drank beer or something. He would be just like his mother, of course. _

"_Listen, I don't care what you've been through, how disturbed you are, I will not tolerate disrespect. You're lucky I'm taking you in. You're lucky I didn't just hang up when they asked me to."_

_Neji glared. "I never asked you to."_

_It was taking all of Hiashi's self restraint not to pull the car over to the side of the road and physically throw Neji out, drive away, and never come back. Then they'll see how cocky he would be._

"_So you'd rather be living on the streets or something?" _

_Neji smirked. "That's where I grew up. On the streets. I'd feel right at home."_

_Hiashi looked at Neji. "What'd you do? Play in dark alleyways at night or something?"_

_Neji's smirk widened. "Exactly."_

"_That's' dangerous…" Hiashi muttered, turning his attention back to the road._

"_No, really?" Neji said sarcastically, then faced forward to look through the windshield. "It's not as dangerous as people think. You just have to learn how to fight. After that, it's just as safe as playing at the playground during the day. Hell, it's probably even safer. The neighborhood gang hangs there, and they're pretty mean. Well, not so much. All they do is beat up little kids and drink and smoke and do drugs. I can't even count how many times they beat me up or offered me drugs. It's definitely safer then being at home…" _

_Hiashi was horrified at what he was hearing. "Sounds like a rough neighborhood…"_

"_You get used to it." Neji muttered. _

_Hiashi gave Neji a sad look. Was he actually feeling…bad for him? _

"_I doubt you'd last a day though, you're a big pussy." Neji said, fighting down a smirk.  
_

_Hiashi glared. Once again, he was wrong. Neji deserved whatever beatings his mother or the neighborhood gang or anyone else had given him. _

_If Neji wasn't careful, Hiashi was going to pull over onto some deserted road and beat the crap out of him. He was probably used to it._

"_What? No reply? I thought we were having a conversation? It's good manners you know…" Neji said, staring out the side window to try and hide his big grin._

_That was when Hiashi snapped. He jerked the car and took the first exit he saw. He was truly shocked to see that Neji looked excited._

_He turned at took some random roads, making careful note of which ones so they would be able to get back. Finally, when he was sure they were truly in a deserted, abandoned road where he was sure that no one would be able to see, or hear, what was going to happen. He wondered vaguely if Neji was a screamer. Well, he was about to find out. _

"_Get out." He hissed, opening his own door and stepping out into the bright sunlight._

_Neji hopped out._

"_What ever is the matter, dearest uncle of mine?" Neji asked, a big smile on his face._

"_Listen, you need to learn some respect. I will not tolerate any of this. And most certainly will not tolerate you trying to teach me manners. I think you're forgetting our roles here. You are the child, and I am the adult." He growled at him._

_Neji nodded his head every few seconds. "Whatever you say…"_

_Hiashi glared at him. "What did I just tell you?"_

_Neji repeated, in a mocking voice, "Listen, you need to learn some respect. I will not tolerate any of this. And most certainly will not tolerate you trying to teach me manners. I think you're forgetting our roles here. You are the child, and I am the adult."_

_Hiashi felt his arm shaking, trying to suppress the urge to beat his skull in. Now that he was out of the stuffy car, he was thinking more clearly. If he hit Neji, he could get arrested. It would be child abuse, one of the reasons Neji's mother was in jail, and he didn't want that._

"_Once again, isn't it good manners to reply? You're telling me to be respectful. Why don't you follow your own rules?" _

_That was it, he didn't care. _

_Hiashi raised his arm, Neji's eyes widened in shock, and felt as his fist connected to the left side of Neji's head. Neji stumbled backwards, his eyes slightly crossed and fell back to the car, leaning against the hood._

_Rage clouded Hiashi's mind. He never once hit one of his daughters, or his wife, or anyone for that matter, except for when his brother was alive and they would hit each other in a teasing way. _

_And here was Neji, who could evoke such anger so easily. It hadn't even been _one hour _since he picked him up, and already here he was beating him. It went against everything he had ever been taught and was against all of his morals and beliefs._

_But, still, he raised his fist to hit Neji again…_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji walked into the guidance office, where Gai looked up and said, "Hey Neji! Just give me a sec to finish this paperwork. I really hate it but…oh well." Gai said, sighing as he signed another form. "You actually have to sign a few of these papers, then I'll walk you around and give you a tour."

Neji sat down on the round table in front of Gai and looked around. The small room was certainly…interesting. Gai certainly had done a good job in making in comfortable. There were posters, but now the ones that had stupid messages like "Smiles are contagious" and stuff like that, but of past Hokages, which was the term that was given to the mayor or city leader of sorts, bands, the national flag along with their city's flag, and so much more. There were plants everywhere, and there was a rug so there wasn't that ugly tile, and there was an assortment of toys on the desk and table, but they weren't like little kid toys, things like that game where you push the little button and the two guys punch eachother until the head pops off. He didn't know what it was called, but he knew he loved it.

He grinned. Something told him that if he didn't hate guidance counselors, he would have enjoyed spending time in here.

"Right then, I just need you to sign these on the X." Gai said, pushing the stack of papers towards Neji, and handed him a pen. Neji looked down and felt like crying.

So many papers and X's…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So we get to meet him today?" Lee asked, bouncing up and down with joy.

Tenten grinned. "Yeah, I guarantee than you'll all love him."

"I'm sure you do…" Ino said, giggling like mad. "After last night…"

Tenten felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks. "That was nothing! I used to do that with Keizo all the time."

Sakura grinned. "But was Keizo not biologically related to you, therefore making the relationship legal, and your same age?"

Ino giggled, giving Sakura a high five for pointing that out.

"Okay, you need to stop. There is nothing going on between me and Neji! I just met him two days ago!"

"So? It could be love at first sight…" Lee said, giggling.

Tenten glared at all of them, then turned to Hinata. "How do you feel about seeing Neji again after all these years?"

Hinata shrugged. "I really don't know…it might be awkward…it might not be…I really don't know…"

She started poking her fingers together.

Tenten sighed…

She was sure that they would like him, but would Neji be able to put up with them without going insane?

She was about to…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, that's everything." Gai said, bouncing the papers against the table to straighten them out.

Neji leaned back in his seat and gave out a silent sigh. He had a lot of paper cuts now…

"Okay, let's go and take a tour." Gai said, standing up and stretching.

Neji also stood up, also stretching, taking note of the fact that Gai was, once again, wearing all green. He didn't even know that they made green jeans. Trust Gai to find them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji looked around. The school was pretty large, and exciting. It was obviously in between classes, so there were tons of kids in the hall, talking and laughing. He couldn't even remember the last time he was in this kind of situation. The last time was the day before he…didn't want to think about.

But it was slightly annoying now that he thought about it. Everyone was staring at him, and all the girls were giggling. He distinctly heard one whisper, "Oooo…he's hot…"

Neji rolled his eyes. That was one of the reasons he hated school. All of the girls were obsessed with him, and all of the guys looked up to him. Apparently he had the balls to stand up to teachers and bullies and everyone else that they would quake in fear in front of. It really wasn't that hard. If he could stand up to Hiashi, then he could stand up to anyone.

"Neji!" He heard someone yell, and turned around to see Tenten running towards him. She stopped in front of him and said "Hi Neji, Gai-sensei."

"Hey Tenten." Gai said, smiling. "Do you want to show Neji around?"

Tenten looked taken aback then grinned and said, "Sure! Come on Neji!" She grabbed Neji's hand and started pulling him along.

"So Hyuugas back…" Someone muttered who was watching the whole episode.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey everyone, this is Neji!" Tenten yelled, walking up to her entourage. "Neji this is…everyone."

"Hey there!" Lee said, giving him a big smile.

Sakura and Ino had started giggling, and Hinata had somehow managed to slink down and become even smaller than usual.

"My name's Lee!" Lee yelled, holding out his hand and literally bouncing up and down.

Neji simply cocked an eyebrow at him.

Tenten giggled. "He's usually not this loud, he's just exited about meeting someone new."

Lee chucked, and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry…"

Neji simply shrugged in a way that clearly said 'No big deal.'

Lee grinned and pulled Neji into a big hug. "I'm sure we'll be best friends!"

Neji just stood there.

"I'm guessing you don't like to be hugged…" Lee said, chuckling as he stepped back.

Neji just rolled his eyes.

Lee was about to respond when Ino ran up to him and said flirtatiously, "My name's Ino."

"And I'm Sakura." Sakura said, batting her eyelashes.

Neji then learned forward and pulled down the bottom lid of her eye, shocking all of them. After a second, he pulled back his hand and shrugged.

"Were you checking to see if anything was in her eye?" Tenten asked, suppressing a laugh.

Neji nodded.

Everything was silent for a second, then everyone burst of laughing, except for Neji who just shrugged and Sakura who blushed.

Finally, everything calmed down and Tenten ran over to Hinata and dragged her over. "Come on, he doesn't bite."

At that little statement, Neji gave a guilty look at his feet, but then he realized who Tenten was dragging over and his jaw dropped.

The other four watched as Hinata and Neji looked at each other awkwardly, with much shuffling of feet and avoided eye contact.

Tenten was starting to think this was a bad idea when Hinata finally yelled, yes yelled, "Where did you go? You had me and Hanabi so scared! We seriously thought that something bad had happened to you! You just…disappeared! And didn't some back! Do you have any idea how worried we were? Two years, Neji, two YEARS! Not two days, not two weeks, no, not even two months, but YEARS! You are such an asshole!" She shrieked, then bitch slapped him.

Everyone's jaw dropped.

Hinata looked at her hand horrified. "I'm sorry ni-san…" She muttered, back to her usual shy quiet self.

Neji just blinked at her, jaw still dropped.

"Well…that was…interesting…" Lee said, breaking the silence.

"Yes...that was a great…reunion…" Sakura muttered.

More silence followed.

"I was so scared!" Hinata then yelled, and crying, threw her arms around Neji, who unlike with Lee, attempted to shove her off of him.

Hinata let go then ran away to the bathroom.

Everyone looked at Neji who looked slightly guilty.

"What happened two years ago?" Ino asked.

Neji just shrugged and looked away.

"I'll go talk to her." Ino said, walking towards the bathroom.

Everything was silent for a few more seconds, then Lee said, "So how about this weather?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was silent as Neji and Tenten walked home that evening.

Tenten looked over at Neji. "You know, Hinata's a very emotional person. I would have been surprised if she didn't start crying. No one's mad at you."

Neji shook his head and gave her a look that clearly said 'It's not that.'

Tenten sighed and looked ahead. "I'd ask you then what is it, but I doubt you'd respond."

Neji looked sadly at the ground.

Tenten did too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata walked into her house and hoped she didn't look like she had been crying recently.

Hanabi looked up as she walked in and asked, "Okay, what's a matter? It's obvious you've been crying."

Hinata sighed as she sat down. "It's nothing, trust me."

Hanabi looked around nervously, making sure neither their father or mother was around, then leaned towards her and asked in a whisper. "Did you see Neji?"

Hinata nodded.

"Is he okay?" Hanabi asked.

Hinata nodded again.

"Is who okay?" A voice came from behind them.

Hanabi and Hinata immediately sat up straight and replied, "No one."

Hiashi gave them both a searching look and said, "Hinata, I wish to speak with you." Hinata stood up nervously and Hanabi mouthed 'good luck.'

"Yes Father?" Hinata asked as she stepped into the living room to talk to him.

"Have you seen Neji? And did he make you cry?" He asked, going right to the point.

"What makes you say that…I mean…I haven't seen…him…" Hinata stuttered.

Hiashi sighed. "You never have been good at lying."

Hinata looked down.

"What happened?" He asked, angry. If he had hurt her in any way then…Neji had better have an angel out there somewhere taking care of him…

"It really wasn't his fault…It was just seeing him brought back those memories of what it was like after he ran away…Just being so afraid…" Hinata muttered, feeling tears filling her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to fight them down.

Hiashi glared into space, then looked down at her. "It was his choice to leave. I didn't force him. All I told him was 'If you really don't like the way I treat you, then you can just get your stuff and leave.' He wouldn't have left if he knew he wouldn't be able to survive."

Hinata nodded sadly.

"But Hinata, remember what I said. Stay away from him." He said sternly.

"But…he hangs out with my friends…so it really can't be avoided…" She stuttered, though she knew what he would say.

"So get new friends." He said, turning and leaving to bring Neji his stuff.

Oh, how he loathed the boy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenten looked at Neji just picking at his food.

"You have to eat you know." She said.

Neji shook his head, and just swished the food around some more, making little shapes and mounds.

"So what are you now? An artist?" She asked.

Neji nodded.

Tenten rolled her eyes and spooned some mash potatoes into her mouth.

"Hello you two!" Tenten's mom said as she stepped into the kitchen, shrugging off her coat.

"Hey mom!" Tenten yelled.

"Enjoying din- Is that the Mona Lisa?" Tenten's mom asked, as she looked over Neji's shoulder.

"Let me see!" Tenten yelled, looking across the table to look at Neji's plate. "Oh wow, it is…"

Neji smirked, proud of himself for making such a beautiful creation of mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, and mixed vegetables.

"Anyway, your uncle is going to bring over some of your stuff, Neji." Tenten's mom said, walking over to the stove so she could take some food.

Neji's smirk immediately disappeared, and he stared off into space.

He would have to see Hiashi-sama?

It was not going to end well…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiashi parked the car, then stepped out and walked up the front walk to where Neji now lived and knocked on the door.

"Well hello there, Hiashi-sama!" A lady, who he assumed was Mrs. Kouki, said, stepping back so he could enter.

"Oh, thank you, but I'm really just here to drop of his stuff. I really don't really have the time to stay and talk much." He said politely, holding out the bag with Neji's stuff to emphasize his point.

"Oh, okay." She said, her smile faltering a little. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to talk to him, even for one second? It wouldn't be a problem to send him out for a minute."

"No- Yes, actually. I would like to speak with him." He said, deciding that there was something he would have to make something clear to him.

"Okay!" Mrs. Kouki said, and went into the house for a second.

"Neji, your uncle wants to talk to you." Tenten's mom said, smiling at him.

Neji was afraid of that as he bit his bottom lip and walked towards the door and most likely pain.

Hiashi stood there tapping his foot when Neji stepped out and shut the door behind him.

"Well, it' s been a while, hasn't it?" He said in falsely sweet voice.

Neji nodded.

"What, no smart remark?" He asked, his voice dripping in venom.

Neji nodded again.

Hiashi stared at him for a second. "So I guess they really meant it when they said you don't talk."

Neji nodded. He just wanted this to be over. No matter how tough he acted, he was slightly afraid of Hiashi.

"Well…let's get one thing clear. You are to stay away from Hinata and Hanabi. I don't want you to hurt them or drag them down. They have futures, unlike you." He said, glaring at Neji the whole time.

Neji looked up and glared right back. He wasn't that afraid that he would take Hiashi's shit.

Hiashi reached out a hand and smacked Neji upside the head, then turned around and walked away.

Neji stood there, his head throbbing.

It had been so long since someone hit him like that…recently it has only been punches and kicks…

Once he was sure Hiashi was gone, Neji leaned back against the wall and sank down until he was in a sitting position, burying his face in his knees.

He was pathetic. He was broken so easily by Hiashi.

Pathetic.

Look it up in the dictionary and it was his face you'd see.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Tenten, could you go and check up on Neji? Hiashi left a couple minutes ago, and Neji still hasn't come back in." Tenten's mom said, who was washing dishes while looking out the window.

"Sure." She said, and walked out the door, but didn't see Neji.

"Neji?" She called, but then realized that he was sitting on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest, his face resting on top of his knees, his hair veiling his face so she couldn't see it.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she sat down next to him and rested her arm over his shoulder.

Neji shook his head without lifting it.

"Hey, look at me." Tenten said, putting her thumb under his chin to lift his head to look at her.

Neji looked so miserable, so afraid, so lost, so hurt, so…defeated.

Tenten asked, "What happened?"

Neji shook his head and looked away.

Tenten looked over at him for a second, then leaned over and threw her arms around him into a hug. She expected him to push her away as he had Hinata, but was surprised when he buried his head into her shoulder.

Tenten was shocked for a second, but then smiled and pulled Neji closer and gently stroked his head.

"Tell you what Neji, I'm going to help you find your voice. You seem to have misplaced it, but we'll find it. I'll help."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Oh poop, that was LONG. I'm one of those writers that once I get started I can't stop, so this took me like five hours literally of almost nonstop writing. My i-pod almost died!

I usually listen to music when I write to help me set the mood, so like at moments I was listening to happy songs, like the Great Escape by Boys Like Girls, and at the end I was listening to True Colors by Phil Collins. When I was writing the part about how Neji ran away, I was listening to Runaway Love by Ludacris, and I was listening to Numb by Linkin Park when I was writing the flashback.

I think I'm doing an okay job because my friend really likes it. She loved the end. But the part she likes best it that I'm alternating between happy parts and sad parts, like it was a pretty light, not exactly happy but still not heavy beginning, but then I went into the flashback, but then I went into Neji being at school and being happy somewhat and then the part with Hinata, and such.

But anyway, now is when the real story really starts.

REVIEW! It'll make the next chapter become faster. Oh, and** COOKIES** for anyone who can guess who the guy who was standing around the corner back when Tenten was dragging Neji around!


	4. Chapter Four

I'm so amazed that people actually like this story! I mean, I don't even really like it. It got 14 reviews within 16 hours of it coming out. That's good! And people were leaving reviews like "I love this" "You're an amazing author!" and oh my god, some one actually said that they cried, but in a good way! You people are too good to me!

I'm pathetic. I religiously watch my e-mail after I just put out a new chapter or story. Like, I refresh it every four seconds.

Oh, and before I forget, I've been meaning to explain why I chose the name Kouki for Tenten's last name. I did a search of Japanese names, and their meanings. When I saw what Kouki meant, I knew it had to be it.

It means new hope.

Like a new hope for Neji.

Ack! So many people guessed that it was Sasuke! I mean, Nikki, who this story is being written for, guessed like 40 times, literally, and she didn't get it! And she specifically requested that Sasuke be one of Neji's old friends!

Gah! Was it really that obvious?

This chapter is dedicated to: Wolfie559933 for putting mashed potatoes in her review! Yay! The next word is Socks Okay.

But first I have to tell you a little story!

Yay! Story time!

Once upon a time, a 14-year old girl sat in her room at eleven at night writing a retarded story about two members of a manga series not suited for little children. As she typed in the word "Sasuke", it came up on spell check.

And it asked her if she meant "Socks okay."

The End.

Anyway, back to the story!

And Italics _flashback_

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! –sob- Stop rubbing it in my face!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well it's about time you guys came back in!" Tenten's mom said, looking at the two who were just walking in the door nearly half an hour after she sent Tenten out to get Neji. "What were you doing out there anyway?" She asked, a knowing smile coming across her face.

"Mom! It was nothing like that!" Tenten shouted, a blush coming up across her cheeks. "Come on Neji, let's get away from this woman with dirty thoughts…" She said, dragging Neji away.

Tenten's mom chuckled as she heard the door to Tenten's room close.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well then, let's figure out how we're going to do this." Tenten said, sitting on the edge of the bed, patting the spot next to her as a gesture for Neji to sit down.

Neji shrugged as he sat down next to her, bouncing slightly.

"Well, I guess the first step is to figure out why in the first place you stopped talking." She said, reaching up to pull her hair out of her trademark buns.

Neji just shrugged, staring at her.

Tenten sighed. "Well, when did you stop talking? Well of course it was two years ago, but what happened two years ago?"

Once again, Neji shrugged, leaning back so he was lying down on her bed.

Tenten also flopped down next to him and said, "You know, we're really not going to get anywhere unless you tell me anything."

Neji turned his head without lifting it to give her a 'Well, aren't you trying to help me start talking again? How am I supposed to just tell you?' look.

Tenten sighed and went back to looking at the ceiling. "Fine, fine…Well I guess I'll have to figure out some way for you to tell me without actually _telling_ me."

The two of them just lied in silence for a few minutes before Tenten sighed. "You know, this is going to be harder than I thought."

Neji nodded.

"I think you need to come to terms with things that happened to you in the past, and understand _why _it happened. Maybe once you've accepted it, then you'll be able to talk again." Tenten said, turning to look at him, propping herself up on one elbow.

Neji seemed to think for a second.

It made sense…kinda.

But he didn't know how they were going to do it.

Tenten sighed, and went back to lying down. "That's just a thought. In the end, it's really up to you."

Neji shifted a little bit, then looked at her and gave her a tiny smile.

Tenten, in turn, gave him a huge one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Uchiha Sasuke slammed the door behind him as he walked into his house. "Itachi! Guess who's back!" He yelled to his twenty two year old brother and legal guardian.

"I don't know, and I don't care." He called from where he was watching the television.

"I think you will once you hear." Sasuke said, sitting next to him.

"I don't think I will." Itachi said, taking a sip from his can of beer.

"Oh yeah? Remember Hyuuga? Neji?" He said in a sly voice.

Itachi jerked his head to look at him. "He's back?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Where did he go?" Itachi asked.

"You think I know? And what's more interesting is that he's some girl's bitch now. She was dragging him everywhere." Sasuke replied, snickering.

Itachi's jaw dropped. "No effin way."

"Yes. Usually he's the one dragging girls everywhere. But the most amazing thing as that Gay-sensei or whatever his name is said that he didn't talk. I was listening outside the door."

Itachi just blinked. "Hyuuga? Not talk? I don't believe it."

"I didn't believe it either. But I'll find out if it's true." He said, smirking insanely.

Itachi went back to looking at the television. "This should be interesting…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Ten year old Sasuke walked down the deserted hallways. Of course no one was there, it was class._

_Why wasn't be in one?_

_Because he was cutting class._

_He didn't see the point in going. When his parents died last year, he decided he wasn't going to go to college or anything._

_He walked out into the courtyard and turned to walk out the front gates when he noticed a shadow across the ground. He looked up and saw someone sitting on the roof. It didn't look like the teacher or like a janitor, so he must be a student. He went over to the fire escape ladder and climbed to the roof._

_There was boy up there with long black hair, just like his clothes. In fact, everything the boy wore was black and obviously too big for him. As soon as Sasuke was up there the boy turned to look at him, and Sasuke took note of his eyes- bright, big, and silvery. And yet dead at the same time._

"_What do you want?" He asked._

"_What are you doing up here?" Sasuke asked, sitting next to him._

"_Cutting class, what does it look like?" He said, looking forward. "And what about you?"_

"_Cutting class too. What's your name? I haven't seen you around."_

"_Of course you haven't. This is my first day."_

"_And already cutting class?"_

"_I don't see the point in going. It's not like I'm not going to college."_

_Sasuke was shocked. This guy thought just like him._

"_What's your name?"Sasuke asked._

"_Why do you care?"_

"_Cause I just do, now what is it?"_

"_Hyuuga Neji. What's yours?"_

"_Uchiha Sasuke."_

_Neji smirked. "It sounds like your saying 'Sauce Gay.' I'm going to call you that from now on."_

_Sasuke glared at him. "You've got to be kidding me."_

"_I shit thee not." Neji said, a big smirk on his face._

_Sasuke couldn't help but smirk back. "Your name sounds like Wedgie. Mind if I call you that?"_

"_Yes, in fact, I do."_

"_And what will you do if I call you that?" He asked, snickering, before he felt a sharp punch to his face, causing him to fall over. _

"_That." The other boy replied. _

_Sasuke growled, then punched the other boy right back in the face._

_Next thing he knew, they were in a full blown fighting match. Sasuke was the bad boy at the school, and no one could beat him in a fist fight. Until now._

"_I win." Neji said, sitting on Sasuke's back, whose arm was twisted behind him and his head in a headlock._

"_Okay, you win, get off!" Sasuke screamed, barely able to because Neji was crushing his air passage with his headlock._

_Neji let him go and stood up._

_Sasuke rolled over and rubbed his neck. "Damn, where did you learn to fight like that?"_

"_And why should I tell you?" Neji said, crossing his arms._

"_Screw you."_

"_And fuck you, dearest Sauce Gay."_

_It was a start of a beautiful new friendship._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's time for you guys to go to bed!" Tenten's mom called, knocking on the door.

Tenten sighed as she sat up. "Looks like you've got to go now…" She said, looking down at Neji before realizing that he was asleep.

Tenten stared for a second, then giggled. Neji just looked so…cute when he slept.

She gently got up and tiptoed down the hall to where her mom was. "He's asleep. Do I really have to wake him up?" She asked.

Tenten's mom sighed and said, "Fine."

"Thank you!" Tenten said, and hugged her mom. "Good night! And can you tell dad that I said goodnight? I know he's working late."

Her mom hugged back. "Of course. Good night."

Tenten smiled as she walked back down the hallway to her room.

She stepped in and wondered what she should do. She obviously couldn't sleep in the same bed as him, so did that mean that she should go into his room?

She sighed. This was so confusing.

Well, she had shared a bed with Keizo on several occasions. This shouldn't be any different.

She changed as silently as she could, praying that Neji wouldn't wake up.

Once she was changed, she gently slid into the bad beside him. It felt kind of strange because Neji was sleeping on his side and facing her. She could feel his hot breath on her, but it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It made her feel safe and warm.

After a few minutes of debating, she turned towards him and pulled him close to her, resting her head on top of his so that his head was tucked beneath her chin.

Neji simply snuggled closer to her, his arms curled in between them, as though he was trying to shield himself from something, but Tenten reached down and pulled then out, and instead of putting them right back, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Tenten blushed as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Four year old Neji flipped through the channels, trying to ignore the rain outside. True, he liked the rain but he wasn't particularly fond of thunder and lightning. Not to mention that the fact that he was home alone wasn't exactly helping. His father had gone out with his uncle to dinner._

_Apparently they hadn't seen each other in so long, so they went out to catch up. _

_He had always been slightly frightened by thunder and lightning, but the second his father asked if he wanted to stay home alone, he jumped up and said yes. He, like most four year olds, liked being treated like an adult, and this was a first step. Maybe next his father would let him drive the car…_

_In reality, he was really hoping that his father would get home soon. On days when it was rainy and stormy, his father would hug him while they sat on the couch watching movies and sipping hot coco. Most of his friends said that usually it was their mothers who did that, but Neji never knew his mother. He had seen pictures of her, but apparently his parents were "divorced," whatever that meant. _

_He never felt like he missed anything though. He had his daddy, and that was all he needed._

_Neji gave out a loud gasp and pulled the blanket over his head as he heard a loud clap of thunder overhead and a blinding light filled the room._

_But of course, life only got better._

_All the lights when out and the television turned off._

_He whimpered and tried to fight down the tears as the thunder only got louder and the lightning only got brighter. Without the T.V. on, he could really hear the rain pounding on the roof, the thunder that shook the floor, the lightning that filled the room with a blinding white light-_

Boom Boom Boom

_Neji actually screamed as he heard someone knocking on the door. His heart pounded and his body trembled as he heard people knocking on the door, even more loudly than before._

_His father had left very clear instructions not to open the door, to answer the phone, or to touch the stove._

"_Open the door! This is the police!"_

_Neji froze. He had heard stories about the police. They "arrested" people and locked them up for years when people did something bad. He wondered what he could have possibly done. Did they find out that he had taken cookies from the cookie jar without his father's permission?_

"_Open the door or else we'll pick the lock. Open it now!"_

_Neji was sobbing as he heard this, wishing that his father was home. _

"_We're picking the lock!"_

_Neji whimpered and buried his face into his knees as he heard the door open._

"_Is your name Hyuuga Neji?" He heard them ask._

_He was sobbing too hard to answer._

"_Honey, shhh, calm down… your not in trouble…"He heard a soothing voice say to him, putting their arm over him._

_Neji looked up to see a kind faced policewoman smiling at him, though she looked sad. "We're going to have to bring you with us."_

_Neji asked in a thick, high pitched voice, "Why?"_

_She sighed and refused to make eye contact. "There was an accident. A bad one."_

_Neji gave her a curious, frightened look._

"_Neji…your father is dead."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji's eyes snapped open, his breathing harsh as he awoke from his nightmare. He often revisited his worst moments in his sleep.

"Shhh…Neji…" He heard someone soothingly whisper as they gently stroked his hair. "Everything's all right…I'm here…"

He was very confused, and frightened, right about now. He couldn't tell what was going on, and didn't remember where he was, who was hugging him, or basically anything other than that fear and numbness he had felt when the lady from the police station had told him that his father had passed away in a car accident.

"Are you awake? Do you want some water?" He heard the voice whisper, sounding slightly frightened.

Neji looked up to see Tenten, and memories of the past few days came flooding through his head.

The police finding him, his uncle refusing to take him back, court, becoming a part of the foster care system, the shelter, being taken in by the Kouki family, and most importantly, Tenten.

He gave a shuddering breath and buried his face into her chest, which coincidentally was quite soft, and tried to calm his racing heart.

Tenten sighed as she stroked his head some more, feeling his heart slowing.

She had woken up to him kicking her, and at first was frightened, not realizing that it was only Neji, but then remembered last night. After a few moments of observation, she concluded that he was having a bad dream, and tried to wake him up and comfort him.

"Are you feeling better now?" She asked.

After a few seconds Neji nodded and lifted his head to look her in the eyes with a look that would make even the cruelest being want to give him a hug.

She smiled and pushed his sweaty bangs of his forehead. "That's good to know."

Neji nodded and rolled over onto his back, hands folded across his chest, breathing still quite heavy.

Tenten amazingly was the one fighting down tears. She had always had hated seeing people in pain, especially someone she was really close to and really liked.

But it was all over now she thought, relived.

Neji was now sleeping peacefully in her arms again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You ready for your first day of school?" Tenten asked Neji as they sat at the kitchen table.

Neji shrugged. The weekend had been quite uneventful, and next thing they knew, it was Monday morning and Neji's first day back at school in two years.

Gai had given him a mini whiteboard and marker that he could write on at the end of orientation along with his schedule, which was identical to Tenten's.

"The classes are boring, but overall it isn't bad." Se told him, taking another bite of her cereal.

Neji shrugged. Truthfully, he didn't plan on even going to the classes, so it really didn't matter if it was boring or not.

Tenten sighed. "We're in for a long year…"

Neji took a bite of his cereal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Neji stared blankly out the window of his science class when he felt something hit him in the side of the head.

He turned to glare at the source, Tenten, before picking up the object, a note.

He opened it and read-

_Isn't science boring? Orochimaru-sensei is scary and is such a pedophile…-shudder…And we think he's gay. Oh, and he has the weirdest obsession with snakes. No one likes him. At least there's only fifteen minutes left, then we go to gym, which is oodles of fun of course. _

Neji smirked.

He started to write back when he heard, "Passing notes are we?"

Neji looked up to see Orochimaru staring down at him, arms crossed and glaring.

Neji briefly wondered what kind of man wore purple make up before Orochimaru asked him, "So what's the answer to the problem on the board? You must know it if you don't think it's important enough to listen."

Neji quickly glanced at Tenten who looked worried, and slightly apologetic, before looking at the board.

**The specialized structure(s) in snakes that help give them their keen sense of smell is/are the what?**

Neji blinked.How easy was that question? It was obviously the Jacobson's organ…

"Please, sir, he doesn't talk so he can't answer the question." Tenten said quietly, but Orochimaru simply replied by saying, "As long as he has that white board, I don't care."

That caught Neji's attention. Even though he knew the answer he would never pass up the opportunity to piss off a teacher.

Neji stood up, never breaking eye contact with Orochimaru, lifted the whiteboard and…

Smashed it over his knee.

The room gasped as Neji gently put the pieces onto his desk and still looked at Orochimaru, who looked as though he had just been punched in the face.

It was taking all of Neji's self control not to grin.

"You did not just do that." Orochimaru said numbly.

'Oh contraire, snake man, I just did.' Neji thought to himself.

Neji was especially pleased to hear all the giggles going around the room. Tenten was right when she said no one liked him which gave him all the more reason to piss this guy off.

"Go to the office. NOW." Orochimaru said, anger showing.

Neji nodded and saluted, and happily walked out the door.

Tenten was absolutely stunned. _No one _had ever stood up like that to Orochimaru and for Neji to do it on his first day…

Tenten couldn't help it, but a large grin spread across her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What did Tsunade-sama do to you?" Lee asked.

Neji reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. Ino took it from him and started to read, "Detention, fifth period." Neji nodded, confirming what she read was true.

"But this is fifth period." Sakura said.

Neji shrugged.

"Do you plan on going?" Tenten asked.

Neji shook his head.

Tenten sighed. "It's your first day and already you've managed to make a teacher mad, break school property, get sent to the office, get a detention, and skip said detention?"

Neji nodded his head, grinning.

"Hey there!" They all head someone yell before they could respond, and turned around to see Uzamaki Naruto running at them as well as a couple other people.

Hinata squeaked and blushed, trying to hide behind Sakura.

Naruto looked at Neji. "That was awesome! I mean, that was so cool! No one has ever done anything like that! I've tried to make him angry ans stuff, but what you did was just…wow…"

Naruto looked at Neji in awe while Shikamaru stood behind him muttering, "Troublesome…"

Neji just shrugged, as though he did it all the time. Which, incidentally, he did.

Naruto suddenly seemed to notice everyone else and said, "Oh right. Let me introduce myself. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, this is Nara Shikamaru, and this is Inuzuka Kiba." Whenever Naruto said one of their names, they either nodded or waved.

Once again, they were about to respond when they heard someone say, "Hey there Hyuuga. Glad to have you back." Everyone turned around to see…

Uchiha Sasuke.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay, I'm done. This chapter is terrible. I'm getting sick of looking at it.

It's more of just a filler, like it's just there to introduce more characters and reveal a bit more about Neji's past and build on Neji and Tenten's relationship and blah blah blah…

Right. Review.

Good night. Or morning. Or whatever. I'm going to bed.


End file.
